IDEAS & TRENDS; The Great Outdoors, Tailored to Your Needs

By HENRY FOUNTAIN

Published: July 9, 2006

THESE days, the authentic outdoor sporting experience is fast becoming an endangered species. Climbing walls substitute for real rock faces, which themselves are studded with anchor bolts installed by recreationists. Rivers are manipulated to create white water for rafting and kayaking. Some ski trails have even been built indoors.

But little in the realm of manufactured nature quite approaches the U.S. National Whitewater Center, a $32 million commercial park set to open next month just 10 minutes from downtown Charlotte, N.C. The center, with rapids designed to challenge weekend rafters and serious kayakers alike, is completely self-contained, and completely artificial. Every boulder in its concrete channels was placed there by design. The water, which comes from the municipal supply, not from an adjacent river, is pumped around the park. When kayakers finish a run, they ride an escalator back to the top.

With its convenient location and thrilling yet safe rapids, the backers hope to attract people willing to pay $25 a day to kayak, or $33 for 90 minutes in a raft with a guide.

Yet there are people who wonder if, in the manufacturing of an outdoor experience, something is lost. If people are exposed to a nature that isn't authentic, they say, how will they learn to protect the real thing?

Mark Singleton, executive director of American Whitewater, a sporting and conservation group, said that the artificial river should appeal to young people who are unable to drive hours to a real one.

''But this new potential generation of paddler that gets introduced to the sport through concrete structures isn't going to have that same exposure to an environmental ethic,'' Mr. Singleton said.

Problems may arise if and when those boaters outgrow the park and head for a real river, he said. He drew a parallel to snowboarders and skiers who learn in terrain parks and then decide they want a real mountain experience.

''We see the things that sometimes cross over -- graffiti, cigarette butts, an uncaring attitude,'' he said.

The Charlotte project is the most extreme example of a trend in whitewater sports toward more controlled environments. In recent years, rivers around the country, often in urban areas, have been transformed into stretches of rapids, re-engineered with concrete beds and strategically placed boulders. Cities from Reno, Nev., to South Bend, Ind., have embraced the idea, seeing economic advantages in attracting boaters and tourists.

Jeff Wise, a Charlotte businessman who is executive director of the whitewater center, said that river parks, like his project, are convenient ''gateways'' for people who have considered paddling but have never wanted to drive for hours to reach white water. Many of those people will go on to experience, and appreciate, real rivers. ''They're not going to say, 'I never want to leave my backyard,' '' he said.

But Mr. Wise defended the experience in the parks as genuine. ''A concrete channel is not as authentic as a natural channel, but the experience is real,'' he said. ''It's not an amusement ride.''

Others are not so sure.

''There is a kind of biochemical cocktail that's mixed up when you put yourself into the hands of nature that simply is not there in something that approximates an amusement park ride,'' said Tim Cahill, a longtime writer for Outside magazine and other adventure publications. There is a danger, he added, ''that what you're going to have is people who are really good at kayaking pools and unalert and unaware of the changes that happen naturally to rivers.''

Peter Ferenbach, executive director of Friends of the River, a conservation group in California, said projects like Charlotte's can't substitute for the real thing. ''I think people are really put in touch with how beautiful and complex rivers are when they're on the river,'' he said. ''That's not something you are ever going to experience in a water park.''

Still, the trend shows no signs of slowing down. Gary Lacy, whose company, Recreation Engineering and Planning, designed the Charlotte project, said he hasdmore work than he can handle, as more cities want to create parks in neglected rivers.

Mr. Cahill agreed that more whitewater parks might not be such a bad thing. ''It gives the outdoor sportsman who much prefers the actual wild river a little more space on his own river,'' he said. ''It gives the person who wants to improve his or her kayak skills a place to do it. And it gives the complete novice a chance to do it in a setting that's reasonably safe.''

Photos: Before the Flood -- The U.S. National Whitewater Center, under construction, has engineered rapids and an escalator for boaters. (Photo by Chuck Burton/Associated Press); (Photo by U.S. National Whitewater Center)